Why Pope Francis Cited Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton

In speaking to Congress on Thursday, Pope Francis demonstrated that he’d brushed up on his American history in advance of his historic visit to the U.S. In mentioning a few famous Americans whose lives could serve as inspirations as the world navigates current crises, he turned to two obvious choices—Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King—and two whose names might be unfamiliar to those less versed in the history of American religion: Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.

So who were they?

Dorothy Day was the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, who used her faith to work for social justice. In 1940, TIME noted that, “Among U. S. Christians who care for the poor, none are more blessed with selfless zeal than those Roman Catholics who labor in the Catholic Worker movement.”

When she died in 1980, TIME explained that her take on Catholic activism was anything but uncontroversial:

To admirers like Historian David J. O’Brien, writing in Commonweal, she was “the most significant, interesting and influential person in the history of American Catholicism.” If so, it is because her Catholic Worker movement blended zeal for reforming the whole social system with practical concern for helping the individual poor. She was arrested a dozen times, the first as a suffragette in 1917, the last during a workers’ demonstration in California in 1973, and took part in scores of labor and antimilitary protests.

Though she was raised Episcopalian and became an agnostic in her youth, as she “took a Marxist lover, joined the young labor movement and wrote for far-left newspapers like the Masses,” a relationship and the birth of her daughter led to the church. In the 1930s, in the depths of the Depression, she launched the periodical TheCatholic Worker and a philosophy to go along with it: pro-union, anti-poverty, pacifist, anti-government. She even went so far as to refer to it as anarchism, believing that individuals could be empowered to do good on their own.

See Photos of Pope Francis' Historic Visit to U.S.

Pope Francis sits on board his Rome-bound plane after his visit to the U.S. in Philadelphia, on Sept. 27, 2015.

Charles Mostoller—Reuters

A man looks at a television screen showing Pope Francis as he celebrates the Festival of Families Sunday mass in Philadelphia on Sept. 27, 2015.

Carlos Barria—Reuters

A man holds a child as Pope Francis celebrates mass in Philadelphia on Sept. 27, 2015.

Matt Slocum—AP

Pope Francis conducts the final mass of his U.S. visit in Philadelphia, on Sept. 27, 2015.

Mark Makela—Reuters

People without tickets watch on video screens as Pope Francis celebrates mass in Philadelphia on Sept. 27, 2015.

Jonathan Ernst—Reuters

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the pope mobile during a parade along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway before Mass in Philadelphia on Sept. 27, 2015.

Michael Perez—AP

Crowds wait to go through security checkpoint before entering the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the Papal Mass on Sept. 27, 2015, in Philadelphia.

Michael Perez—AP

A family from Trenton, N.J., originally from Ecuador, walk over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge ahead of a Sunday Mass to be delivered by Pope Francis in Philadelphia, on Sept. 27, 2015.

Julio Cortez—AP

Pope Francis waves to the crowd during a parade in Philadelphia, on Sept. 26, 2015.

Matt Rourke—AP

Pope Francis takes the stage during the Festival of Families in Philadelphia, on Sept. 26, 2015.

Matt Slocum—AP

People pray and watch as Pope Francis celebrates mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, on Sept. 26, 2015.

James Robinson—AP

The wind lifts Pope Francis' mantle as he delivers his speech in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, on Sept. 26, 2015.

Tony Gentile—AP

Pope Francis is greeted by seminarians as he arrives at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, on Sept. 26, 2015, in Wynnewood, Pa.

Mel Evans—AP

Nuns wait for Pope Francis' arrival at the Festival of Families rally along Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, on Sept. 26, 2015.

Carlos Barria—Reuters

Pope Francis kisses and blesses Michael Keating, 10, of Elverson, Pa after arriving in Philadelphia and exiting his car when he saw the boy, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, at Philadelphia International Airport.

Joseph Gidjunis—World Meeting of Families/AP

Pope Francis reads his homily while celebrating high Mass at Madison Square Garden, on Sept. 25, 2015 in New York City.

Julie Jacobson—AP

A crucifix hangs above member of the clergy who watch as Pope Francis, not shown, celebrates Mass at Madison Square Garden, on Sept. 25, 2015 in New York City.

Michael Appleton—AP

Thousands of people watch Pope Francis ride in the popemobile through Central Park on Sept. 25, 2015 in New York City.

Justin Sullivan—Getty Images

Pope Francis arrives in his car for a visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, on Sept. 25, 2015.

Eric Thayer—AP

Security personnel watch from the back of a vehicle as Pope Francis tours Our Lady Queen of Angels School in East Harlem in New York City, on Sept. 25, 2015.

Brendan McDermid—Reuters

Pope Francis and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, left, pray at the South Pool of the 9/11 Memorial in downtown Manhattan, on Sept. 25, 2015.

John Minchillo—AP

Pope Francis is seen on a video monitor as he signs the United Nations guest book before addressing the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York City, on Sept. 25, 2015.

Mary Altaffer—AP

Pope Francis makes his way down 5th Avenue in New York City to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on Sept. 24, 2015.

Damon Winter—AFP/Getty Images

People in the crowds outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral take pictures in New York City, on Sept. 24, 2015.

Damon Winter—The New York Times/Reuters

A New York City police officer searches nuns outside St. Patrick's Cathedral prior to the arrival of Pope Francis in New York, on Sept. 24, 2015.

Damon Winter—AP/The New York Times

Pope Francis reaches out to 5th grader Omodele Ojo of East New York, Brooklyn as he is greeted as he arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sept. 24, 2015, in New York.

Craig Ruttle—AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis waves to supporters as he arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, on Sept. 24, 2015.

Craig Ruttle—AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the Speakers Balcony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 24, 2015.

Doug Mills—Getty Images

Pope Francis pauses in front of a sculpture of Spanish-born Junipero Serra, the Franciscan Friar known for starting missions in California, in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 24, 2015

Clergy brace for the wind as they stand along the red carpet on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Sept. 22, 2015, as the plane carrying Pope Francis arrives.

Andrew Harnik—AP

US Air Force honor guard unroll the red carpet before Pope Francis arrives at Andrews Air Force Base in Md, on Sept. 22, 2015.

Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis arrives to the United States from Cuba at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Sept. 22, 2015.

Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images

1 of
58

Advertisement

Merton, who came from a similarly non-Catholic background, became a Trappist monk and best-selling author who encouraged peace. As his 1968 TIME obituary made clear, his focus was parallel to Day’s—he “found in the Word a command to do”—but it was through writing that he shared his philosophy with the world:

For 20 years Merton had been the most publicly visible Christian contemplative since St. Simeon Stylites took refuge on top of a pillar. Merton’s pillar was print, and he had not exactly chosen it for himself. What he had chosen, at the age of 26 and as a new convert to Roman Catholicism, was the silent and anonymous life of the Trappist monks, who rise early, work hard, eat little and pray much. When he entered the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, however, his abbot decreed that Merton should continue writing—as he had since the age of ten. Merton was ordained a priest in 1949, the year after his first major book, The Seven Storey Mountain, had become a bestseller and thrust him permanently into a life of books, articles, poems and a massive correspondence with friends all over the world.

When The Seven Storey Mountain was first published, TIME called it a “perceptive, quietly stirring” reminder that “the most mystical human beings are often among the most practical as well.”

While Day’s activism was very much tied to the 1930s moment in which she got her start, with its focus on workers and soup kitchens, Merton’s fit perfectly with the post-World War II world in which his autobiographical debut was published. Though Merton lived the life of a near-hermit for many years, he became fascinated by Zen Buddhism and Tibetan monastic practices right about when the Beatles did too, and he participated in protests against the Vietnam War.

Though their lives took very different paths, Day’s and Merton’s callings overlapped significantly, with a concentration on anti-poverty and pro-peace activism. In light of that parallel, one they share with another famous Catholic, it’s no wonder Pope Francis would have mentioned their names—even if they’re less famous than Lincoln and King.